Urbanspoon Releases Most Blogged

We just read through Urbanspoon’s most blogged about restaurant list for 2014 and were pleased to see many Vancouver spots on it. It seems our city has taken more than our fair share of the internet, but one has to remember that this is Urbanspoon, and Vancouver is a food blogger-filled city, so of course Vancouverites are going to give a shout out to the spots most easily accessible. And, yes, we do have a awesomely good food scene here.

Food bloggers are a crazy lot, running from new spot to news- worthy spots, grabbing photos and posting all sorts of thoughts, some coming from a place of knowledge and others completely clueless. I am often part of this group; I’d like to think that I come from the former segment, but I’m not immune to the occasional spelling or punctuation error and am by no means a professional photographer. But, I have spent my fair share of time in front of house, back of house and over the stove in my own house, and am constantly in learning mode daily, so I have earned my fair share of badges.

As we read through some of these reviews I am impressed and horrified and a have a lot of meh feelings in between, but there’s no doubting that Urbanspoon has become an important site when it comes to many diner’s choices.

I congratulate those that have garnered attention and also give praise to those reviewers whose write ups and photos are worthwhile reading. It’s definitely important for a restaurant to monitor this site and have an understanding of what’s being said about them, both good and bad, (along with Yelp and Trip Advisor and other social media channels), but do take it all with a huge grain of salt. After all, it really comes down to what really happens daily in your establishment and no amount of print on or online praise can change what your guests are truly experiencing.

Here’s the list. Full article here. The food shots are from Urbanspoon and courtesy of Sean Neild,@YVRbro, an great photographer, food and more, and author of Flavor Town Adventures, and there’s a few from my archives.

And the winners are